He quickly found others and pulled them out from under the snow.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Salt Lake County search and rescue team expect the Utah Department of Public Safety heli team to arrive at Mill Creek Canyon on Sunday, February 7, 2021 to retrieve the bodies of four skiers killed in an avalanche.
Saturday’s avalanche that claimed the lives of four Utah cross-country skiers could have been even more deadly, but for the quick rescue of a skier who clung to a tree to escape the slide he took. seven more.
The debris completely buried six skiers and partially buried a seventh. The only skier who was not trapped began a search for his buried teammates. Using a transceiver, this skier, who has not been officially identified, quickly found signals transmitted by beacons carried by the buried skiers and dug up to two trapped within 3 to 5 feet of snow, according to the Drew Hardesty forecast.
“He … grabbed a tree and held on to his beloved life while the avalanche washed him down and buried everyone else,” Hardesty said. “And at that moment, to see this happen and then have the resources to go and acquire [beacon] it makes signs and not making one, but two complete and deep burials and rescuing two lives, it’s amazing. ”
Wilson Glade is located at the top of Mill Creek Canyon ravine under the divide with Big Cottonwood Canyon, in the heart of the Wasatch Mountains ski country, famous for its fine snow on easily accessible alpine terrain.
According to official reports, a group of five skiers entered Wilson Glade from Big Cottonwood while a group of three entered Mill Creek from below. At the time of the avalanche, both groups were ascending when the slide was “shot remotely,” according to Nikki Champion’s forecast.
The skier who managed to avoid getting caught on the slide was touring in group of five.
In most backyard avalanches, a skier or motorist triggers the slide while driving or skiing in the exit area. This does not appear to be the case in Utah’s deadliest avalanche since 1992.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Saturday’s slide fits these features except for the slope angle. This avalanche was triggered on a relatively gentle 31-degree slope, likely evidence that conditions were exceptionally unstable that day.
Due to Utah’s shallow snow backpacks, the recent round of midwinter storms caused extreme avalanche risks as new dense snow piles over what forecasters call “persistent weak layers” that are ready to break free.
While skiing avalanche-prone slopes, mountain skiers are taught to keep enough distance between them to minimize the chances of more than one being caught if the snowy slope gives way. That way, if someone is completely buried, their mates may be able to rescue them.
This principle usually works while the parties ski down a piste. It’s rare for more than one skier to be trapped on most Utah slides, but Saturday’s massive avalanche occurred as these groups ascended, presumably in a single file through a “skin trail. ”According to Hardesty. As a result, all eight skiers were on their way to the slide at the same time, although the two groups were quite separate. Two skiers from each group survived.
“Multiple victim avalanches are rare at the time of looking at our avalanche accidents since 1940. They do occur, but they are rare,” Hardesty said. “I would say that, according to many metrics and standards, this avalanche accident worsened the trend, as the average number of accidents in the last 30 years has been flat-line or has decreased slightly, despite the country’s explosive use. background”.
The avalanches have earned 21 lives in the entire U.S. season, 15 just last week, putting this winter on track to be one of the deadliest on record. And the winter is barely over.